Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm new to the forum (although I registered my many Ricks years ago). I thought the 'Vintage 325' crowd would like to hear this painful story.

My first Rick was a '64 325, that I bought as an eighteen-year-old in the summer of '79. I found it in a Dallas music store and paid $300 without hesitating a moment. Mind you, I didn't know what it was. I was a huge Beatles/Lennon fan, and I knew it was what John called a "short arm", but I didn't know the model or year. It was used and the hang tag simply called it a "60's Ricky".

Everyone knows so much more about these guitars now thanks to numerous books, buyers guides, the internet, and of course fine websites like this. Anyway, this was the first 3/4-scale Rick I had ever seen in person, so I bought it without knowing how much original hardware was missing.

This guitar was originally Fireglow (still visible in the control cavity along with '325') with an f-hole. It was now stripped natural with a glossy clear sprayed over it. It had a 70's style raised letter truss rod cover, chrome Grovers, and a homemade single level pickguard with custom controls. The bridge and neck pick-ups were Gibson mini-humbuckers with the center position filled by a regular humbucker. The bridge and stop tailpieces were imported Gibson copies. The case was original but the leather was gone and it was covered with brown contact paper. And it was badly mildewed and rather stinky.

I tried to learn to play the guitar but it never sounded right. That was because the strings weren't the proper size and more importantly because the bridge position was wrong. And to top it off, the same idiot who routed for the big humbucker also cracked the guitar's face with the bridge and tailpiece studs. At least one internal brace was also bouncing around loose inside.

Anyway, I moved on to other guitars while intending to restore the Rick to its former glory. Later I tried to patch the face and paint it with terrible results. Eventually I smashed it on a cinder block wall just to see it explode. Luckily, I removed the truss rod cover and the jackplate, because they seemed to be the only original Rick parts.

Around 1990, I bought an '80 320 in Burgundy. It was super clean, with the nickel Klusons and the small headstock I prefer. I decided to build my John Lennon guitar from this one using reissue parts including toaster tops, Accent tailpiece, black knobs, and a vintage truss rod cover (Rick sold them back then).

The result is a gorgeous solid top guitar that looks black in low lighting. I later found a new silver reissue case on Ebay for $75. I'm very proud of this guitar. What makes it very special is that it bears the jackplate from my very first Rick, 'DG880'. I guess that ends this sad story on a positive note.

Wow, I don't know what to say.
Thanks for upsetting me this morning.
Are you sure it was an actual 64'? Are there any pictures?

I'm sorry if that upset you. I fully expect to see some hate mail regarding my violence towards the poor guitar. The fact is that this guitar was butchered by a previous owner and beyond repair. I checked with Rickenbacker regarding a replacement body, and they recommended that I buy a new guitar. You must remember that at that time vintage reissue parts weren't available from the factory. Just to replace the missing parts would have been impossible or impractical at the time. I still have a 1979 price list and catalog that came in their response!

If you weren't around the time, the 70's were not a good time for Rick enthusiasts. The basses were stocked in many stores, but the guitars were hard to find. Since the collector market for guitars hadn't taken off yet, Rickenbacker guitars were still hidden under beds. In rare cases a nice bargain Rick would pop-up in a pawn shop, but they were few and far between. I once saw a gorgeous Mapleglow Capri with the old vibrato priced at $200, but I didn't have the money. Of course back then, you could buy a nice old Les Paul for $400.

I don't have any pictures, but it was the real deal. The internal bracing was the cross type I've heard people on this board discuss. One of those braces was routed halfway through and was left flopping around loose. The heel of the neck was rounded, unlike what some people claim these guitars came with. The body had all of the holes and marks left from the original bridge plate and pick-ups. The headstock had all of the holes from the Kluson tuners crudely filled. The fingerboard had been stripped and refretted. The nut had also been replaced.

I figure the only original hardware was the jackplate, both strap buttons, and possibly some of the pots. The raised letter nameplate obviously came from a 70's guitar (because I bought it in '79). I still have those parts!

I didn't find out what it was until I got the Smith book, shortly after it met its final destruction. I'm not proud of what I did, but that's what happened. I thought you guys might want to know the final word on 'DG880', a Fireglow '64 325.

Well, you won't get any hate-mail from me.
It's was still just a guitar, right? lol.

DG 880 was certainly a '64 1996.

John,

I'm curious. Is there some way you know for sure that it was a model 1996 and not a 325? Do you have access to serial numbers for guitars that shipped to Rose-Morris? According the Smith book there were (201) 1996's shipped in 1964. The guitar was marked as a 325 in the control cavity. Was 1996 just a model number that Rose-Morris used regardless of what Rickenbacker called it? From what I could tell, it had all of the 1996 features (Fireglow, F-hole, Accent vibrato), so I guess there wasn't a difference between the two, other than what the dealers called them.

Thanks!

If smashing guitars is a crime, then Townshend should not have a limited edition Rickenbacker, he should be jailed for the violence caused to HIS Ricks!
(Once the Owner of a broken '84 Explorer, neck broken off due to hitting it on a lighting rig in a venue with a low ceiling).